Polymer Foams and Their Multifunctional Application
A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Polymeric Materials".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 December 2026 | Viewed by 75
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Polymer foams combine low density, tunable cellular architectures, and versatile chemistries, enabling lightweight structures with thermal, acoustic, mechanical, and protective functions across aerospace, transportation, construction, electronics, energy, and healthcare. Rapid advances in nanocomposites, supercritical foaming, reactive processing, additive manufacturing, and data-driven design are transforming foams from single-purpose materials into multifunctional, sustainable systems. This Special Issue aims to showcase original research and authoritative reviews that elucidate formulation–process–structure–property–application relationships and demonstrate translational potential.
We are interested in articles that focus on topics including, but not limited to, the following:
- Sustainable systems (bio-based, recyclable, flame-retardant, and degradation).
- Micro/nano-cell architecture, gradients/anisotropy, sandwich designs, and multifunctionality (thermal management, EMI shielding, energy absorption, sensing, self-healing, and biomedical).
- Processing and manufacturing (physical/chemical foaming, extrusion/injection/batch foaming, reactive foaming, and additive manufacturing).
- Multiscale characterization and reliability.
- Modeling, simulation, and machine learning.
- Service performance and standardized validation.
Authors should provide reproducible details, quantitative structure analysis, mechanism or model support, application-relevant benchmarks, and data/code availability. We welcome interdisciplinary submissions advancing multifunctional and sustainable polymer foams.
Dr. Jialong Chai
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- polymer foams
- multifunctional materials
- cellular structure
- supercritical foaming
- nanocomposite foams
- thermal management
- shielding and insulation
- absorption and filtration
- sustainable materials
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